‘Wait a moment!’ he begins. ‘I know what it is! Of course I have a name. And I have a son too. I do have a son, whether they believe it or not.’

He searches frantically for his name. If only someone had called it out. But the swine has said nothing besides ‘you’. But some name must occur to him, especially to him who has a son. And he manages to get one out – a mixture of what he is thinking about at the moment. It comes to him instantly: Swineson. That’s it! He takes a deep breath and is saved. Now he has a name; now he will not fall over.

His face lights up and he turns to Stig. ‘Swineson,’ he calls himself, bowing slightly.

Stig, lying ill and feeble on the bench, nods. ‘Of course. Thank you. I can be so forgetful sometimes, too, that it’s quite embarrassing.’

The prisoner nods back. So that danger is over. It looks as if the stranger understood that a name had to be found. And he understands what it means to have such fine flour sifting down over everything one ought to remember. He is lucky to have got such a companion.

Something else that has been bothering him occurs to him now that he is so alert, and the confusion over the loss of his name is over. He asks Stig whether it is possible that he has been forgotten, since he is in here and never gets out? Previously he had been taken out of the room sometimes. But not now. It’s as if he must not be allowed to see anyone.

‘Am I forgotten, and if not, why am I here?’ he asks again, when Stig does not answer at once.

Stig does not know what to say. The reason why he is being held hidden away like this is not difficult to guess, but it’s another matter to tell him why.

He is amazed and shocked, for immediately the man is standing over him, thoroughly agitated.

‘I can see you know why!’

‘Oh no,’ says the weary man on the bench.

‘I can see you know the reason. And you must tell me, or…’

Stig hasn’t the strength to lift his head. There is a rushing noise. Clouds are racing by. Eyes hard as steel are staring at him. Faces without human features: ‘Now? Stig?’ They didn’t get anything out of me. They won’t get anything out of me, I know that now, even if they do take me there next time. Yes, but then you will die. Yes, he replies. But Karen and Rascal….

All this engulfs him in an instant so that he dozes for a moment, taking his eyes off this man whom he has been thrown in with, and forgets what he wants an explanation of.

But the prisoner drags him out of it. Now that his senses have been sharpened he sees that Stig knows why he is here. Stig must not fall asleep. ‘Don’t fall asleep,’ he says, seizing Stig.